"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" T.S. Eliot's Portrayal of Personal Failure & Inadequacy

The title of Eliot's poem immediately puts an end to any real suggestion that it has a romantic side. Indeed, the very name of the character implies that he is a rather obscure fellow, in fact a total non-entity. As the first stanza begins, the opening two lines seem fairly innocuous in their description of the evening sky, but any further thoughts the reader might have regarding what is - after all - supposed to …

…of the mermaids and the fact that I do not think that they will sing to me. As the poem ends, there is an overriding sense of sadness as we realise that Prufrock is, ultimately, a failure. The closing lines are indicative of the eternal struggle taking place within him and he returns once more to his romantic dreams, with the final line suggesting that death will soon come to him, thus ending the torment.